Ognio will run for Post 3 commission seat held by Hearn

Thu, 03/01/2012 - 12:59pmJohn Munford

Local businessman Randy Ognio has decided to run for the Post 3 seat on the Fayette County Commission currently held by Lee Hearn.

Ognio, who is the president of B&O Electric in Fayetteville, has addressed the commission at nearly every meeting for well over a year, taking an interest in county operations in efforts to save taxpayer funds.

Ognio argues that policy changes need to be made in the county’s bidding process to make sure the county is doing its due diligence.

Ognio is also of the opinion that the citizens’ feedback should be valued more by the commission, and deserves a reply at the same meeting.

“I go through the agenda before every meeting and come up with a whole list of information I spend talking about,” Ognio said of his remarks to the commission at every meeting. He questions if the commissioners even follow up on his concerns, because although his comments are acknowledged, commissioners don’t bother to follow up with him on the issues after the meeting.

“I want citizens to be able to say, ‘Look, why are we doing this?’ and we need to be able to answer them,” Ognio said. “Right now, you don’t get those answers.”

Ognio said he also would like to remove the policy enacted earlier this year that requires residents to sign up in advance of commission meetings in order to speak. The previous process of calling interested persons by a show of hands was proper, Ognio said, adding that many residents are unaware that if they want to address the commission they need to show up several minutes before the meeting begins.

When enacting that process, several commissioners said they felt it would bring more order to the meeting by having a list from which residents’ names could be called in order to speak to the commission.

Ognio, an opponent of the West Fayetteville Bypass, said he feels the project is “a waste” and also was an abuse of the powers of eminent domain, which he calls “ridiculous.” Commissioners Lee Hearn, Herb Frady and Robert Horgan have defended their votes in favor of the bypass by saying it was authorized by county voters who approved the 2004 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

Ognio said he also sees a need to improve transparency of government operations.

Ognio noted that eminent domain can be important to use for essential projects such as reservoirs, but he didn’t see the need to use it for the bypass.

Moreover, the county needs to be looking for ways to rein in spending “in times where people are hurting.”

“There’s no reason we should’ve raised taxes last year,” Ognio said. “And on the topic of raising taxes, they implemented a stormwater fee we’re going to have to pay. But churches have to pay it, and to me that’s just going beyond government ... churches are supposed to be tax exempt. Who pays for it if the churches have to pay for it? Citizens, and that’s not right.”

Ognio said voters can count on him to avoid group opinions, and if he disagrees with an issue, he will vote against it.

“I’m very opinionated,” Ognio said. “So if several people say this is the way it ought to be, and if I don’t agree with it, I’m going to vote against it.”

Comments

for the Randy Ognios in this world. They might not be super slick like Jack Smith, Ken Steele, Lee Hearn, Herb Frady, and Robert Horgan, but they are willing to put themselves out there for what is right, honest, and open.

I attended the Fayette County Issues Tea Party meeting this past Tuesday where five new candidates for various offices this year spoke. They all did exceptionally well. However, Randy Ognio prefaced his remarks by saying that he "isn't a public speaker and probably never will be." Someone who is willing to admit to a room full of strangers that they aren't comfortable is someone I can relate to.

I would much rather have a down to earth human being representing my interests than a slick politician any day.

What Randy had to say and the points he made were extremely important and far outweighed anything else.

I agree I would rather have someone who has my interest at heart, than a 'slick Willie' Hearn.

Since you were at the meeting do you know how to pull up the Youtube video of it? I was out of town but friends went and said Terri Smith made the mistake of trying to speak and was slaughtered. She should have known better than to speak in front of the Tea party group. WOW!

I've known Randy Ogino for about two years now and am of the opinion that he is a man of integrity. I think he's right in speaking out against the abuse of Eminent Domain property seizure. Some time ago, I spoke with a retired commissioner who told me that in his day, when it came to the acquisition of land, Fayette County would bend over backwards to work things out with homeowners in an effort to come to a common resolution. In the case of the West Fayetteville Bypass, a SPLOST project, the county sent out notices to landowners that their land was going to be acquired, then deliberately misled these same people into believing that there was something that they could do about it. They soon later had an "open house" where the project consultants were heard to say the Bypass was a "done deal." This riled the people to the extent that the entire county, not just the affected landowners, voted down the next SPLOST by voting 76% against it. When it became known that commissioners were getting awards from the Atlanta Regional Commission at the same time, the wrath of the public turned against the only two commissioners up for reelection, and voted them out. Candidate Ogino realizes this, and will stand up for the majority of voters who want more transparency in their county government by voting out the remaining three commissioners up for reelection.

The public wrath was so much against the Triumverate that negative public comments were taking up to an hour of Commission meeting time. This prompted the Triumverate to insist on pre-registration to speak, which has curtailed the commenting by those persons unable to arrive early. The most common subject was the West Fayetteville Bypass. That project never received as much as one favorable comment by the public, yet the Triumverate took a position supporting it with the promise that it would reduce traffic in Fayetteville. What an insult to our intelligence! The county builds a road through developers' property that ends where the developers' property does, then says it's for the good of the county.

Mr. Hearn, the incumbent, has endorsed the West Bypass, voted in favor of awarding county contracts noncompetitively, voted in favor of personal noncompetitive appointments, and successfully nominated his cousin to the Fayette Elections Board by removing the incumbent with no cause other than saying that a change was needed. The same cousin is involved in the ownership of a large block of property adjacent to the West Fayetteville Bypass, which the public was only recently told will develop into "hamlets."

[quote=pips1414]I've known Randy Ogino for about two years now and am of the opinion that he is a man of integrity. I think he's right in speaking out against the abuse of Eminent Domain property seizure. Some time ago, I spoke with a retired commissioner who told me that in his day, when it came to the acquisition of land, Fayette County would bend over backwards to work things out with homeowners in an effort to come to a common resolution.
[/quote]

That's just utter BS.

Tell that to the FC landowner who had FC build a water tower on his property that he and his family had been paying property tax on for decades, only to hear "tough crap" from FC about it, and no compensation whatsoever for all the taxes he paid or the fact FC's parcel map that they admitted was totally wrong. What a joke.

I know, I know, this was way before the WFB, so it's like ancient history and never happened.

[quote]
The public wrath was so much against the Triumverate that negative public comments were taking up to an hour of Commission meeting time. This prompted the Triumverate to insist on pre-registration to speak, which has curtailed the commenting by those persons unable to arrive early.
[/quote]

Of course, this protocol is widespread in local govt not only in GA, but country-wide, but don't let that get in your way of a conspiracy.

[quote]
The most common subject was the West Fayetteville Bypass. That project never received as much as one favorable comment by the public,
[/quote]

What does that have to do with anything? The "public" elected these people and they answer to them every 4 years. Beyond that, what is said or not said at a public meeting means little because we live in a republic, not a democracy.

[quote]
yet the Triumverate took a position supporting it with the promise that it would reduce traffic in Fayetteville. What an insult to our intelligence!
[/quote]

I don't think it is possible to insult your intelligence.

You're the one who was ready to throw the people who were going to be affected by the proposed EFB(totally unneeded just like WFB) under the bus so that they would suffer instead of you.
[quote]
I support Mr. Hearn on one issue...it's time for a change.[/quote]

Yes it is....for the right change of someone competent instead of the Frady, Hearn, Horgan group. We have already seen the exact opposite of that in fundie goof Barlow announcing who may make the hysterical whiners happy for a bit but is not suitable for dogcatcher with his constant whining since the day he moved to FC and immediately started telling everyone here what we've been doing wrong, despite the fact that he was totally clueless to anything that happened before he graced us all with his presence. I though that was only reserved for those who moved into PTC?